Chapter 1

Once upon a time, there were two
mechanics named Briar and Malena. This is their story.

“Lena, where are you?” Briar looked
around the large room at the assortment of steam carriages and automobiles
being worked on.

Her fellow mechanics Fleur, Faun
and Mary each looked up at her from their respective tables, where they were
each repairing something. The three turning their gaze towards her at the same
time looked eerie with their eyes covered by goggles. Especially Mary, who had
attached the lenses of magnifying glasses to hers. Removing the goggles from
her face, Fleur pointed to the far side of the room.

Looking over at where Fleur
pointed, Briar spotted Malena, or rather, Malena’s boots coming out from under a
steam carriage.

“Lena, the prince wants you to work
on his airship tomorrow,” Briar raced across the room.

Malena pushed herself out from
underneath the steam carriage and flipped her welder’s mask up above her head
so that her face showed. Her black hair was tangled from spending so much time
underneath a carriage.

“The prince?” Malena raised an
eyebrow. “Doesn’t he have his own mechanics? What’s so wrong with his airship
that he wants me to fix it?”

“Don’t be so modest,” Briar helped
her friend up off of the ground. “You have been in the papers three times
already for your inventions, so people are starting to talk about you. They are
calling you the best mechanic in the whole kingdom.”

“The prince didn’t say anything
about what the problem is with his airship?” Malena wondered.

Briar shook her head. “No, the
letter just said that it isn’t working.”

Malena sighed. “Alright, I suppose
I will have to prepare for any possibility.”

“So you’ll do it?” Briar smiled.

“Only if you will come with me. The
prince can’t expect me to fix it all on my own, after all.”

The next morning found Malena and
Briar at the castle. Perched on Malena’s shoulder was her mechanical raven that
she had built with spare parts.

“Did you have to bring the raven?”
Briar nervously picked at the split ends of her blonde hair.

Not bothering to answer, Malena
patted the raven on its copper-plated head. It was never any surprise to Malena
when others found her mechanical familiar creepy. Its eyes looked like
miniature telescopes, and it exhibited extraordinarily lifelike qualities. She
barely understood herself how she had put it together so well, and it was a
good demonstration of her skills with machines.

The raven squawked as the footbridge
was lowered. Once the heavy wooden door hit the ground in front of them with a
thud, a figure walked out to greet them. Not the prince, Malena realized, nor
either of his parents, but a humble representative.

“I assume you are the mechanics?”
the man lowered his spectacles at them. “Which one of you is Malena?”

The raven squawked again, sending
the stranger jumping back in surprise.

“My name is Balthazar, and I will
be your guide. If you will follow me, I shall take you both to the prince’s
airship.”

Upon taking her first glance at the
airship, Malena gasped. The stern of the ship was so crumpled up that it did
not fit into the scaffolding that was holding it. One propeller was missing,
while the other was missing half of its blades. The balloon itself, which held
up the ship, was missing its bottom rudder. The green paint on its side was
partly scraped off, the scrape sparing the royal seal in the center.

“How did that happen?” Malena could
not help but ask.

“Lena, you can’t just ask something
like that,” Briar warned.

Balthazar sighed. “I’m afraid his
highness prince Stephen is not as adept at piloting an airship as, well, his
pilot.”

“I’m afraid this will take at least
a week,” Briar estimated.

“His highness is willing to pay you
for as much time as it takes,” Balthazar informed them.

With a squawk, the raven flew from
Malena’s shoulder to the ship, flying in a circle around it.

“Do you have the other propeller, the
missing blades and the missing rudder?” Malena asked Balthazar. “I may as well
attach those now.”

As soon as Balthazar left to fetch
the missing parts, Malena took off her cloak to reveal a leather vest with two
wings attached to it. Pulling at two strings on either side of the vest made
the wings snap open. The brown leather tarps attached made the wings look like
those of bats or dragons. Though they were not strong enough to hold her up in
the air for very long, she could use them to fly up to higher ground and back
down. They were also a security measure for in case she fell. She had broken a
leg and a few fingers while building them, but had since worked the kinks out.

When Balthazar returned with the
missing parts, Malena flew the missing rudder up to where it belonged and,
finding a seat on some scaffolding, began welding it back into place. Briar,
still on the ground, brought her goggles from her forehead to her eyes and
began attaching the propeller blades to the broken propeller.

Before Malena realized it, nearly a
full day had passed. Lunch had been brought to them at midday and they had
taken a short break to eat it, but that was the only time Malena or Briar had
ceased working. After Briar had attached the missing propeller blades to the
detached propeller, Malena had flown her up to the ship, where she had proceeded
to work on repairing the body of the ship from the inside. As Malena finished
welding the last propeller blade to the still-attached propeller, the raven
squawked in warning.

Looking down from her perch atop
the scaffolding, she saw a young man staring upwards at the body of the ship.

“Are you Malena, the mechanic?”
Prince Stephan was asking.

“No, but she is,” Briar’s voice
answered.

As the prince turned his face
towards her, Malena froze. Though he was far below her, on the ground, his
stare made her feel like a bug underneath a microscope.

Snapping her wings open, she stood
up on the scaffolding and jumped, gliding up to the body of the ship, where
Briar waited. Wrapping her arms around her friend, she made sure that Briar,
who jumped up into her arms, was holding on just as tightly before jumping from
the ship. Wings outstretched, Malena landed on her feet in front of Stephen as
Briar placed her own feet onto the ground, releasing Malena.

“Thank you for working on my ship,”
Stephen looked from Briar to Malena. “It is an honor to have such an
accomplished mechanic here in my castle.”

Malena hoped that her goggles would
prevent him from seeing her blush, though she knew it was not likely.

“The honor is mine,” she removed
her thick brown gloves and glanced down at the watch on her wrist. “But it is
time we should be heading home. We will return tomorrow to continue the
repairs.”

“Or you could spend the night here,
so that you will not need to come all the way from your homes in the morning,”
Stephen suggested.

As Stephen led them to their
chambers, he struck up conversation with Briar about her own mechanical
accomplishments, while Briar blushed at his compliments. Malena rolled her
eyes, mildly annoyed with her friend for reasons she could not explain. They
were also invited to supper, at which the three of them were the only ones due
to the king and queen’s absence that day.

“There are five of us mechanics at
our location,” Briar was saying, “six if you count Malena’s creepy raven.”

Malena picked at her food, glad
that she had made the raven stay in her room.

What was with her? Malena was
beginning to regret bringing Briar to the castle with her, though she knew
there was no one else she would rather have brought.

“Do you make a lot of creatures the
same way?” Stephen addressed Malena again.

Malena shook her head.

“She’s making some kind of really
big creature,” Briar spoke up. “I can’t tell what it is, as it’s not in working
order yet and she keeps it in a closet covered in a sheet.”

“Really?” Stephen asked. “What sort
of creature is it, Malena?”

“I’m not at liberty to say,” Malena
began picking at her food again. “What about you, your highness. Do you build
machines at all?”

“I’m afraid I lack any mechanical
expertise, but I have some interest in horses, science and the medical arts.”

Malena wanted to pick Stephen’s
brain about science, seeing as she herself had invented all sorts of explosives
and other concoctions. But by the time she opened her mouth to say something,
Briar was dominating the conversation again.

Throughout their week at the
palace, Malena would constantly look up from her work to find that Stephen was
again visiting them and that Briar had abandoned working, in favor of talking
to him. It took everything Malena had not to get annoyed at her friend. Putting
machines together was far more interesting than talking, no matter how
interesting she found the prince. What conversations between Stephen and Briar
that she did hear seemed too mundane for her to stop working to participate in.

At the end of the week, Malena
stood looking proudly at her work. The airship not only had all of its parts,
but had been straightened out where it had been crushed, and Malena had even
taken the extra step of repainting it where the paint had been scraped off,
which Briar had not helped with.

Balthazar handed Malena the cash,
as the prince was not present to give it to her himself. No doubt he and Briar
were still spending time together somewhere. Repairing an airship was one of
the highest-paying gigs a mechanic could find, but what Stephen was paying her
was more than twice the going rate.

Thanking Balthazar, Malena picked
up the bag that contained some tools and her winged vest. With a squawk, the
mechanical raven landed on her shoulder.

“His highness also mentioned,”
Balthazar began walking her to the footbridge, “that he will have some spare
parts delivered to your dwelling, to make more of your…creatures with.”

Malena smiled. “Tell him I said
thank you. But…you wouldn’t happen to know where Briar is, would you? I can
hardly leave without her.”

“I’m not sure,” Balthazar scratched
his head, “but give me a moment, and I will find out.”

Malena was not surprised when
Balthazar returned by himself, saying that Briar had elected to stay at the
castle a bit longer and would return home at a later time. The train ride home
felt longer than the ride there had been the previous week. Not only did she
not have Briar to talk to this time, but several passengers stared at her, whom
the raven rewarded with a stare in return, forcing them to redirect their gaze
elsewhere. When Briar was around, most people just stared at Briar. And in a
good way.

No sooner had Malena returned home,
than she was bombarded with questions from Fleur, Faun and Mary, about the
prince, the castle, the airship, and, of course, Briar’s whereabouts. Malena
answered their questions as best she could, before getting to work on one of
the many machines that had come in needing repairs.

It was late by the time Briar
returned home. The next day, she was only there for a few hours of the morning
before the prince showed up in person to pick her up. Malena knew this because
Fleur ran to her and interrupted her work by squealing that Prince Stephen had
arrived. Malena seemed to have no choice but to go and greet him.

“I have brought some spare parts as
well, in an extra carriage. You can take a look at them at your leisure, and I
will send someone to pick up the carriage tomorrow.”

“Thank you, your highness,” Malena
smiled.

“What is that creature that Briar
tells me you have been working on, if I may ask?”

What was taking Briar so long? If
she didn’t appear soon, Malena would be too tempted to show the prince her
greatest invention.

Malena hesitated. Another moment
passed.

“Would you like to see it?”

Malena led Stephen to her room,
suddenly embarrassed at the amount of tools and gears strewn across the floor.

“Ignore the mess,” she left him in
the doorway and proceeded to the other side of the room, where a black sheet
covered something that was tall enough to reach the ceiling, and wide enough to
block the entire wall. Taking a deep breath, Malena yanked the sheet off.

Stephen gasped. “It’s amazing!”

Malena’s smile grew wider.

“It doesn’t…breathe fire, does it?”
Stephen asked.

“No.” Not yet, anyway, though that
wasn’t a bad idea. Some lighter fluid and something to create a spark with, and
it could work.

She glanced at the eye, which was
still missing a few pieces. Some of the claws were missing, as were its two
back legs and tail. The two front legs, not even attached yet, lay next to its
head.

“It won’t move on its own like the
raven,” Malena explained. “The idea is to ride inside of it and control it from
the inside.”

Leading Stephen back out of the
room, she closed the door behind her. By that time, Briar was ready, and Stephen
left with her, not bringing her back for two days.

Stephen Warner:
To start off, I am thoroughly impressed. The writing style is somewhat unique, and the plot seemed to move at a nice and steady pace. However, I was not expecting this to be a vampire book! I am usually not one for novels about vampires, but I was pleasantly surprised! You wrote with such grace a...

ernbelle:
When I first started this story I was a little unsettled by all of the information that appears in the prologue, and wasn't sure if I would continue. However, I am very glad I did. The plot was very well thought out and really interesting. There were not any page breaks or markers to acknowledge ...

Hawkebat:
Playing both Kotor I & II and Swtor I found the story line interesting and it held me until chapter 35 Very good story and plot flow until then, very few technical errors. I felt that the main character was a bit under and over powered, as it fought for balance. The last few chapters felt too f...

ArgyrisMetaxas:
Thrilling story which builds layer ontop of layer. A few mis spellings every few chapters. What I found special was that it took a modern day problem and took it to its logical conclusion and plays this realism with gritting precision. I'm always on edge ready to shout from adrenaline. This is gr...

maewilde25:
I am so in love with this story!!! captivated me till the very end, there wasn't a dull moment. Didn't particularly enjoy the lay out and some bits of info was missing along with how a 21 year old man amassed so much wealth that needed to be explained other than that and a few spelling errors, th...

Giuliana Cassetta:
My face is full of tears, I never cried like now with a book or even a movie. I loved every single chapter. I truly don't know what to say, I'm out of words and my eyes hurt from crying. Such an bittersweet story, it's so wonderful. One of my favorites for sure. Keep it up!

Flik:
Hi! ^.^ huge fan of yours on ff.net! When I saw the note about this contest on The Way We Smile, I couldn't help but rush over here, create an account, and vote! XD Seriously love this story and would recommend it to anyone! :D best FT fanfiction out there. Amazing story, amazing concept that wa...

makaylakay:
I love love this story! It's written incredibly and well thought-out plot! I love how it's a different twist in fantasy fiction, other then the usual vampire or werewolves. Love the romantics and drawn to the two characters so much already! This book will draw you in within the first chapter and ...

Roy Jenner:
I was pleased to join the action where this B-17 was limping back across the English Channel defying all odds. Obviously written by a person more than familiar with the interior of the Flying Fortresses that were familiar in the skies of Southern England during World War 2. Plenty of action here ...

Felisa Yoder Osburn:
I really enjoyed the story. Civil War stories are some of my favorites and the intertwining of the past with current times was wonderful. I look forward to reading the next stories.

genlynne2379:
I read the other review of this book and I must say that I disagree with it wholeheartedly. I do not believe the author put the apostrophes in the names just to be unique, but because the characters are supposedly of a different race than humans. They are Anmah. They should have different names a...

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